Monday, May 07, 2012

A sad note about my neighbor's family

I took some neighbors and their 84 year old grandmother to the Jaluco Centro de Salud 2 days ago because she couldn't sleep due to pain in her legs. She has had a circulation problem for months but due to money concerns and being stoic, she hasn't seen a doctor. The doctor at Centro de Salud said she needed to go to Emergency at the General Hospital in Manzanillo so after gathering things together and informing family off we went. Grandma ended up spending the afternoon on an IV and it was later determined she needed better care so will spend a few days in Euchari Clinic.

Jaluco Centro de Salud

We found out yesterday that she needs to see a specialist in Colima because blood clots are cutting off circulation. If she can't get circulation back they will want to amputate. Of course the stoic grandma wants to die with both her legs in the company of her family and is not very pleased with all this medical attention. I had to tell the grand daughter that doctors won't insist and the decision will be up to grandma. If she wants to wait it out in one piece I don't know what they can do for the pain. There's probably something.

Very sad because she is a sweet, smart and handsome old girl

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of have they given her a shot of dalteparin/ \heparin to thin her blood. They will need to do this daily while putting her on a course of warafrin. When her INR is at a good level the shots are stopped.

Also compression stockings could be a big help.

I realize the considerable expense to this treatment but amputation obviously has expenses to it.

Amputation seems extreme as a first measure.

I know from my own experience. I broke my leg in January and formed a huge blood clot in my thigh. My circulation is affected by this. I hope too recover from this, thankfully I'm in Canada getting treatment.

Good luck.

sparks_mex said...

She has been wearing compression stockings all along ... or at least a tight wrap bandage.

We just got good new that whatever treatment she received in Manzanillo has worked and she does not have to go to Colima. Her swelling is way down and they have sent her home.

We will monitor the progress and hope there is some type of ongoing care

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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